Arab World needs to create 90m jobs in next two decades says UAE minister

Dubai: The Arab world needs to address the issue of unemployment and how to create jobs for their citizens, according to Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Governmental Sector Development.

Addressing a GCC forum on nationalism and employment, he said Gulf countries were facing daunting challenges and that unemployment was a threat to socio-economic stability in the region.

He said: “Addressing the issue of unemployment is a common responsibility and all government and private sector bodies should join forces with educational and training institutes to attain the optimum standard of efficiency and competence to tackle it.

Al Mansouri said the Arab World needed to create more than 90 million jobs in the next two decades and regretted the absence of any practical measures to tackle the problem.

He added: ''High sense of responsibility is needed all over the Arab World to address and tackle unemployment which is posing a real threat to socio-economic stability and balance, he said.

''We have not seen yet any decisive initiatives to resolve unemployment in some GCC countries and most of the previous solutions often lacked depth and reality. Furthermore, the nationalisation process has not been addressed and dealt with seriously whether in term of labour market, investment or economy and society.''

The minister also said that the UAE created around 800,000 jobs a year, most of which are in the private sector.